We are an international family, each born in a different country, living and working in an international environment.

March 2015

03/21/2015

Luckily for us one of the best dumpling restaurants around is only a 20 minute walk form where we live and an ideal place to go with a group of people.

Dumplings come in portions of 10.

There is plenty of non dumpling items on the menu also. I recommend the duck spring rolls...yum.

However we always go for the dumplings. This restaurant is typical Chinese in that guests sit at large round tables with a lazy susan in the centre. Food in place in the middle and everyone shares from the dishes. You are give your crockery wrapped in plastic and the children always enjoy piercing it with the chop sticks to get it open. Everyone will be given a small plate, a small bowl, a small cup and a small glass plus chopsticks.

This particular restaurant is huge and spread over several floors with nice private rooms. Private rooms are also very popular here, they do not cost extra and can be nice if you're out celebrating and don't want to sit in a crowded dining room.

I have eaten in a private room here, on the balcony and in the main dining room, all tables were equally nice.

The decor although a little tired in places is very interesting and colourful, and creates a nice atmosphere.

Chicken Kungpo, a little too spicy for me but everyone else enjoyed it. This restaurant does not serve rice so these dishes are just eaten as is.

Of course the main reason people come here is for the dumplings. And yes, they are worth it. Unfortunately they don't serve fried dumplings, only steamed. But they are delicious.

And the best bit is that it is so reasonably priced. Our last meal here was: dinner for 7 with plenty of leftovers to stock the fridge for 348 RMB.(approx. 35GBP) What a bargain!

03/14/2015

Being eight and a third culture kid (TCK) is definitely an interesting life. The other day I was thinking about the idea of home. It always amused me how growing up our 8 year old would always refer to hotel rooms as home... what does home really mean to someone who has lived as varied a life as he has. Being born in the Isle of Man, he lived just outside of Douglas for a year. After which he moved to Kazakhstan where he lived in two different houses in Almaty. He then moved to Qatar where he also lived in two different houses in Doha. This was followed by a move to China where he lived in 3 different houses in Nanjing and he is now on home number nine in a new city in the north if china.

He listens to us talking about going home in the summer as we head back to Ireland for the holidays each year. When I asked him where is home? He answered: home is anywhere you bring me mama.

He doesn't have a sense of identity like I do. He will tell you he is Irish if you ask him his nationality but in reality he knows very little about being Irish. To him Ireland is a place where he doesn't have to go to school, he is allowed to watch TV and he gets taken out for ice-creams by Nana and Grandpa. He has never lived there. Eventually I suspect he will develop his own unique sense of identity grasping from both his father and myself and whatever he sees presented around. Home is not a physical place for him. When he gets older and comes to visit us wherever we will be, he will not have childhood memories of that place. However this does not mean he will not have childhood memories. And although he leads somewhat of a transient lifestyle now, his memories with us his family, are built on our experiences together wherever that might be. Priceless!